My sister and I went to the art museum last night, where we found a representation of MOOD OF THE SEASON, 2... [“Durga Slaying the orange monster” was the first one]… A mask of the Yoruba people of Nigeria representing Eshu, the god of Chaos. The dancer wearing it would hit onlookers with a staff... as A Warning!
As the US Coast Guard motto says, Semper Paratus: Always ready, be PREPARED!
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Something's going on with my hair. The other day I posted that photo of me looking like a model for a knitting magazine; the next day, a coworker asked (as a compliment), "What have you done to your hair?"; and yesterday I saw my sister for the first time in 9 months ago, and she said, "OMG, you look like Ali McGraw!"
Maybe it's the SWEATER? I never wear Scandinavian patterns, but I liked this warm cardigan. Thrift, of course. __________________ Also at the museum---inspiration for a print! A woven wool saddle blanket by a Hopi artist, c. 1900, So simple, so strong!
I'm in a dash--leaving to go to work in 5 minutes, so just one more cheering thought: The algorithm has determined that I like pithy phrases from physicists. Today it gave me:::
My new pink chair! From the thrift store, of course--bink drove it home for me yesterday. My once empty apartment is filling up. I think I like that...?
I love the chair, anyway. It's comfy and and in surprisingly good shape, with no signs of cigarettes or cats. I'm considering taking off its skirt, a dust catcher. It's got cute wooden legs.
BELOW: The return of my annual 'Two-Person Book Club (Start Your Own)' display. Books we have in duplicate are usually once-popular titles, now unwanted; but I enjoy gathering them together, and it shows care. A volunteer said, "It makes us look like a regular bookstore."
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When Big Boss drove me to work yesterday, he said, "You should make videos for youTube of how to make lunch with food from the food shelf."
What a neat idea! I think I'll try it next week. I'm not wanting to film anymore Growing Older videos, but making them gave me confidence to make more. This might encourage me to research recipes too, which I'd like to do. BELOW: The spaghetti and meatballs I made are in the red and white crock-pots on the counter in the break room at work.
On the table is the usual kind of regularly donated food: candy and commercial bakery, near or passed its sell-by date.The ingredients lists are entire paragraphs. We give the food to customers, keeping plenty for staff.
I used to eat donuts every time I worked.
Fresh fruit sometimes gets donated too, but it's often old or somehow unsettling--green oranges, here. A vegetarian volunteer took home the bag that had sat around for days.
It's snowing this morning--lightly, but enough to whiten the grass. I'm glad that last night I'd lined up a ride with Big Boss to take my hot lunch to work this morning.
Yesterday, the food shelf had a big bag of frozen Impossible Burger "meat"balls (soy, but very like ground beef), and I made so very much spaghetti and sauce, I didn't want to carry it in. BB lives about 3 miles away--near the store, but he always drives--so I felt free to ask him to swing by. He's good like that--will pitch in and help people move or whatnot.
Also, it turns out to be a good morning to test-print one Xmas card. Messy. I like the bear a lot, but is it too simple? Maybe some green behind, instead of black?
I used red oil paint, which is okay but not tacky enough. I'm mad because if I want oil-based color block-printing ink, I have to order it online. I went to Michael's and Blicks in nearby suburbs, and the art college supply store closer to me... nope. And that's it--the other big art-supply stores have closed.
I just checked, and the shipping cost is more than the price of a small tube. So oil paint it is. Or hand painting!
II. Surfing the Chaos.
I'd rebounded emotionally enough from the election to read the Economist issue last night on "what to expect". I LOVE their tone-- never hysterical, they say things like, "So-and-so worked for the KGB. This is worrisome." I can take that in.
I live in such a liberal area, the election results feel unreal. This sign a few blocks away shows results (I'm not sure if they're for the neighborhood or the whole city, but they'll be similar):
But we remember in our bodies how it went last time. Up close and personal, Covid, Black Lives Matter. And plenty more remote events that still impacted like body blows. You know.
In our homes, a mile from George Floyd Square, we breathed in the acrid smoke of burning auto-parts; lying in bed, we heard the helicopters overhead. Walking down the street, we saw the National Guard
standing with machine guns... (I was living a mile the other direction that year--same difference.) This wasn't directly down to Trump, but it reflects his world of chaos and force.
I
dread a repeat, but I'm going to focus on getting better at surfing the
chaos. I'm grateful I'm in a good workplace to do that. Make lunch!
I accidentally hit the Photo Booth icon on my laptop this morning, and it showed me this person:
Me! looking like I could be a silver-hair model for designer Gudrun Sjoden...
LOL 😂 (This is a fluke of Morning Hair, I promise.)
Sjoden, below, second from right. Her stuff is nice, though beyond my price (though not insanely expensive, as nice fashion goes (a turtleneck is $68, corduroy pants $118). Her drapey styles look best on tall people (not me).
I must stop saying things like, "I like Physics best." There are so many things I like "best"--many varieties of wisdoms! Like, Find the Good, and Praise It.
Another favorite is the Jewish concept Tikkun Olam--Mend the World. Or repair/ heal... its popular modern meaning. (Historically it has other meanings.)
Here, an artist friend I reconnected with this fall, Anita White, uses "Tikkun Olam" to illustrate/advertise SOUP FOR YOU---serving free hot soups, with salad and dessert, for anyone, every weekday in a church a couple miles from the thrift store.
Anita's motto is, ""Nothing is so scary you can' t draw it!"
Soup for You! was started by Chef Judah:
"Born in the ghetto of Tunis, an Arab/Jewish child
of a Holocaust survivor, Chef Judah was orphaned at an early age and
became a child beggar.
“I was hungry the first 8 years
of my life” says Chef Judah. Thankfully, he was adopted and brought to
America as an immigrant/refugee... More than 40 year ago, he
landed in Minneapolis, where he experienced homelessness and hunger once again.
I would like to meet him! I must go for lunch one day.
A couple good things I saw online:
I didn't love the book The Salt Path, but the movie looks promising--to be released in April 2025:
Another women's march after the 2nd inauguration of DT, this time called a People's March:
And, I want to read her book, Orbital, about a day above Earth:
Finally—not from online—bink taking the new bears out to see the world, as they requested a Grand Tour. Here in the bird sanctuary by lake Harriet, a mile from my apartment:
Off to work now.
May your hair look good or other good things come to you today!
Just a quick hello, this Sunday morning. I felt better after a walk yesterday and started to decorate my apartment for winter holidays . . . with help!
They all want holiday outfits too. I like to decorate, and I'm extra motivated this year because I want it to be sparkly for Marz's stay over Christmas, but I'm slow. No magic transformation in an afternoon---it's more like putting out a few trinkets, sitting down to admire them, and declaring it a day.
Penny Cooper just chimed in that one ornament does transform a room. And she's right.
bink's coming over soon---I'm going to try no-white-sugar banana oatmeal pancakes--in this recipe you mix in the blender banana, eggs, oats, almond milk, cinnamon, vanilla, baking powder.
Plenty of sweet in that--if I were actually diabetic, even too much. I know this is all predictable, boring to hear about, even? but I am shocked to look back at how much processed sugar I was eating all my adult life. Ketchup! The other day I thought I'd treat myself to French fries, and then realized I couldn't have ketchup, so then I didn't even want them. Turns out I only liked them if they were sugar conveyors. You know.
But it's going well, at four weeks. I'm just starting to look at sugars that occur naturally in foods, like bananas and oats. But I do NOT want to freak myself out with too much change, too fast. That can backfire, I know very, very well.
Bears in the thrift store's parking lot, excited to be GOING HOME yesterday! Marz named the bears Abbott (taller, paler) and Costello (littler, dark one). They are to be given baths today.
That's the bike pannier ^ I transport soup in, which Ceci had asked about. I put the soup in ziplock plastic bags. It's not even 4 p.m., but look at how low the sun is, throwing shadows on a slant.
As I left work, I took this photo, below, to show one of the Super Volunteers, Marc, how the glassware he'd shined (wiping every smudgy glass with a cloth!) glows in the setting sun. I also like the customer's fashion. Are those Crocs?
BELOW: Earlier, I'd helped Jester (aka, Mr Mushroom or Grateful-J) price artificial Xmas trees ($25–$40). You can see some in the mirror, behind us.
Jester is assistant manager now. He is truly an ally in kaizen--continuous improvement, often slow and small. It adds up big time! Staff morale is way up too.
Below is the housewares improvement I'm most proud of: I stood the big glass plates in racks. They'd always been stacked flat in piles before. If you wanted to look at them, you had to sit on the ground and unstack them. Which almost no one did, of course.
Genius, huh?
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I hadn't mentioned because it didn't affect me, but the guy who worked in Housewares for a short time before me was fired for stealing. Turns out it wasn't just flagrant theft though. Yesterday I found a stash of vintage goods he'd priced low and hid away with his name on them. I repriced the dishware and set it on the vintage shelf:
I set aside the record albums he'd priced 99¢, to look up later. It included what looked like a first? release of the Beatles' White Album, which sells for hundreds of dollars.
I'd mentioned a coworker pricing undies way cheap for me. Everyone at work does that for one another, and I think it's good and fair--it helps make up for earning minimum wage. (Full disclosure: when Big Boss rehired me, I got a 50¢ raise above min. wage. (I'd asked for a dollar, but that was a bridge too far.)
Pricing low to buy and re-sell is different. It harms the store to drain off all the cool stuff like that. _____________________
I'm not feeling great today--not sure why. My first week of working four shifts again? It's fun but physically tiring work. Or it it emotional tiredness? Post-election slump?
The Big Picture [religious/philosophical] thought system I like best/believe in most is Physics. (Physics for lay people, anyway--as explained by popularizers like Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Brian Cox.)
This perspective––"You are here"––is cheering and helpful to me: Chill out!
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Here's Brian Cox being chill ("gloomy but smiley") about the End of the World, with Philmona Cunk (comedian Diane Morgan). They are so good together, starting at minute 1:22
Luckily I have nothing much to do this weekend, so I can chill out. I'm going to go for a walk around the lake now. It's sunny and cold---brisk! Nice.
Ta-da! I filled the glass trees with jewel-beaded fruit from Xmas donations at the store. So pretty!
I met my friend John for coffee yesterday, and to receive my copy of his new book, Bellosio: An Age of Miracles---a world-building tale (like Dune or Game of Thrones--but no magical animals, he promises) + a whiff of A Canticle for Liebowitz. (Available here at Bookshop.org.)
He'd told me the germ of the plot when we sat outside, face-masked, the first chilly spring of Covid. Later, as I've done with some of his other books, I read the first few chapters and gave feedback, which he said was very helpful. Still, I was shocked to see the dedication:
Me and Descartes!
I felt real, like the Velveteen Rabbit-- kinda like when I first saw my name on a Library of Congress heading--even though that was for hack-writing a geography book for Lerner Pub. (I mean, that was good work, but it wasn't personal work.)
I felt honored and pleased and shy. “It wasn’t that big a deal.” But other makers-of-things have told me that personal support--including actual editing and critical feedback, as well as emotional--means a lot. Independent creative work maybe doesn't get enough solid support. It is a big deal.
Speaking of sci-fi, these are the books on my sci-fi bookshelf. I'd just mentioned one of my favorite books is World War Z. I also very much enjoyed Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weil the guy who wrote The Martian, but better.
Also Walter Tevis's Mockingbird and Joanne Sinisalo's Troll: A Love Story.
But I've mentioned a hundred times, one of my favorites is the sci-fi Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells. I recovered the dust jackets, to help me envision the various skin colors of the characters, including the main character, Murderbot, who also has no gender or sex. (The original art makes it look like a white male, which is already our default: I want to shake off that programming.)
It’s a sci-fi world we’re living in…
Isn't it amazing we even exist, this little bundle of atoms with consciousness?
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